Inside the cluttered space of his own mind, Banner pleaded. The Hulk remained a silent, looming presence, an unmoving wall of green denial.
Banner kept negotiating, his mental voice growing strained. He offered everything he could think of. Shared wishes. A joint agreement. Alternating control of the body, one day for Banner, one day for the Hulk.
He got nothing back. Not a grunt, not a flicker of cooperation.
The Hulk wasn't stupid. He understood the trap perfectly. He couldn't form the complex words needed to articulate a wish to a dragon. Even simple sentences were a struggle. The promise of a wish was useless. It was meaningless when he lacked the verbal capacity to make one.
And if he did help Banner win, then fell asleep or got tired, he'd just retreat. He'd be trapped back in Banner's subconscious with no way to emerge voluntarily.
The wish was a lie. A promise Banner couldn't keep even if he wanted to.
Worse, the Hulk knew exactly what Banner really wanted. To destroy him. To erase the Hulk from existence.
As the internal silence stretched, Banner realized something fundamental. This wasn't just a rage monster. The Hulk possessed independent consciousness. He could refuse to fight. He could make strategic, calculated decisions.
A cold dread, sharper than the forest air, settled in Banner's stomach. That realization terrified him more than any external enemy.
If the Hulk somehow gained control of the Dragon Balls, he might wish to destroy Banner instead. Or separate them completely, leaving an unstoppable monster with no restraints. The auras of the approaching siblings felt like a closing vise.
If Banner couldn't use the Dragon Balls to eliminate the Hulk, he'd have to find another way. He'd have to contact Mr. Blue using the data on the encrypted USB drive. Find a scientific solution. Destroy the gamma cells for good.
Just as Banner prepared to surrender his ticket and flee into the dense trees, Xu Xialing stepped out from behind a large banyan, blocking his path. Her rope dart was already spinning slowly in her hand.
"Let's see you run now."
Banner stopped. He glanced over his shoulder. Shang Chi was closing in from behind. He was boxed in. He looked between the siblings, his breathing shallow.
He made his decision.
If you won't come out willingly, I'll force you.
Banner had tried suicide before. He vividly remembered the cold metal of the gun barrel pressed against the roof of his mouth, the click, and the sound of the trigger pull. The Hulk had emerged instantly and spit out the deformed bullet. Death, or the immediate threat of it, triggered the transformation automatically.
Xialing's rope dart snapped taut and whistled through the air toward him. Shang Chi tensed behind him, ready to tackle Banner if he tried to dodge.
Banner didn't dodge. He didn't even flinch.
He took one deliberate step forward, chest exposed, moving directly into the path of the weighted steel dart. A solid hit would leave a gaping wound. A direct chest hit would be fatal.
Xialing's eyes widened in shock as she saw Banner deliberately impale himself.
A collective gasp rose from the audience. Nobody understood why Banner was committing suicide. His performance so far had been unimpressive, merely human-normal. Decent speed and endurance, but nothing supernatural.
In the stands, Happy leaned forward, squinting. "At that speed, the organizers can't intervene in time. He's dead."
In the final instant, in the fraction of a second before the sharpened dart could penetrate Banner's chest, his skin flashed green. His muscles swelled, ripping the seams of his simple tournament fatigues. The Hulk erupted into existence before everyone's eyes.
Deep inside, Banner's consciousness smiled. As expected. Risking actual death brought the Hulk out involuntarily.
The rope dart struck the Hulk's pectoral muscle with a heavy thwack and bounced off harmlessly, as if it had hit steel plating.
Xu Xialing and Xu Shang Chi both froze, staring up at the massive green monster that now stood where Banner had been.
In the stands, Happy's jaw dropped. "He's the green monster. He's the Hulk! Even scientist in this tournament is completely insane."
The vampires studied the Hulk's obvious, raw power with calculating, predatory eyes. Thank god Selene had enhanced herself. Without that recent upgrade, they would have had no chance against these competitors.
Soren glanced toward the Golden Daggers section, a faint smirk playing on his lips. From what he knew, their boss was mediocre at best. Weaker than newborn werewolf cubs. Sean and the other Golden Daggers members looked devastated, their faces pale. Their boss was doomed.
Xialing broke her paralysis and turned to run.
But the Hulk didn't attack. He didn't grab their tickets. Instead, the giant green hand reached down to the waistband of Banner's torn pants. He fumbled for a moment, then ripped the small, hidden gold coin from the fabric it was sewn into.
With a grunt, he hurled it underhand at Xu Shang Chi.
Not at Xialing. She'd been the one to stab him with the dart. That annoyed him.
Shang Chi, already mid-escape, skidded to a stop when the coin clinked on the packed earth at his feet. He stared at it in complete confusion. That was a ticket.
His hand moved reflexively, snatching it up.
Every spectator sat in stunned silence. The air was thick with confusion. They had expected violence. They had expected the monster to rampage, to smash the two smaller fighters. Instead, he had... given away Banner's ticket?
Only Betty understood. She drew in a sharp breath. The Hulk was sabotaging Banner's wish. That's why he'd thrown away the Dragon Ball at the university. She had thought he was protecting it from the military, since he'd run toward where it landed. But no. He was disposing of it. Deliberately.
No wonder Bruce had looked so haunted, no wonder he'd said he was in big trouble.
After throwing the coin, the green form seemed to deflate. The Hulk retreated immediately. Banner regained control and staggered, his legs buckling as his body rapidly shrank. He caught himself, gasping, disoriented by the sudden shift.
"Xialing, stop running!" Shang Chi shouted, holding the coin up. "He gave us the ticket!"
Xialing skidded to a halt, turning back. She understood every word individually but couldn't process the sentence as a whole.
Slow, deliberate applause echoed through the trees.
Selene emerged from the shadows, a faint, predatory smile on her face. "Wonderful. Truly wonderful."
Her expression hardened, the smile turning cold. "But your luck ends here."
Shang Chi flew backward without warning, as if struck by an invisible truck. The gold coin was ripped from his grip, tumbling through the air directly into Selene's waiting hand.
He slammed hard into a thick tree trunk and collapsed to the ground, a wet cough spraying blood onto the leaves. Before he could even try to rise, Selene's boot pressed down hard on his chest, pinning him.
The sudden, brutal reversal left Shang Chi reeling in pain. One second he'd been celebrating an easy ticket. The next, his ribs were cracked.
Xialing stared in disbelief, her own weapon dangling uselessly at her side. This woman, this vampire, hadn't possessed anywhere near this level of strength during their encounter in London. What had changed?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Writing takes time, coffee, and a lot of love.If you'd like to support my work, join me at [email protected]/GoldenGaruda
You'll get early access to over 50 chapters, selection on new series, and the satisfaction of knowing your support directly fuels more stories.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~